Comcast X1 customers already can get hundreds of channels, along with about 85,000 TV shows and movies via Xfinity On Demand. Soon they will get one more channel with a very large library of its own: Netflix.

The nation's largest pay TV provider is working with Netflix to bring the streaming service to Comcast's X1 cloud-based TV platform, making it easier for customers to watch Orange is the New Black and other streaming TV series. The deal is surprising because the two companies have been at odds in the past over issues such as data caps, delivery speeds and net neutrality.

Both companies released a statement Tuesday announcing their plans to collaborate and make Netflix's streaming service available to Xfinity X1 customers later this year, promising "seamless access to the great content offered by both companies.

Xfinity is Comcast's residential brand for pay TV, broadband and phone connectivity. X1 is its cloud-based TV platform, which began rolling out in 2012 and was in 30% of its 22 million-plus customers' homes as of the end of 2015.

The service lets users find content via a Web-like interface, receive personalized recommendations, use voice search and and stream content to devices. Integration of Netflix would likely include a Netflix icon within the X1 interface and a Netflix button on the TV remote.

The business deal was first reported by tech news site Re/code. Netflix (NFLX) shares rose 1.3% Tuesday to $97.91. Comcast (CMCSA) shares slipped 0.4% to $65.01.

This isn't the first time that Netflix has been incorporated into a pay-TV provider's boxes. The streaming TV company has previously done deals with Dish Network, Frontier and TiVo boxes for RCN and Suddenlink, as well as arrangements with Bell Canada and U.K. providers BT and Virgin Media.

But Comcast and Netflix have a particularly frayed history. In 2012, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings complained Comcast's data cap policy didn't count video streamed through Comcast's Xfinity app against caps, while the same video on other apps including Netflix, did.

Two years ago, Netflix began paying Comcast for a more direct connection to ensure customers got better video — a deal that Hastings later compared to an Internet toll. Hasting also became a vocal opponent of Comcast's merger with Time Warner Cable, which unraveled and eventually led to a Charter-TWC deal.

Still, Morgan Stanley Research analysts Benjamin Swinburne and Brian Nowak in June touted the benefits of Charter and Comcast integrating Netflix into their video services. "Set-top integration could be a positive catalyst for further U.S. subscriber growth across older demographics, a key area where Netflix remains under-penetrated," wrote the Morgan Stanley researchers. Their price target for Netflix was $125 with an "Overweight" rating.

Those U.S. homes with older residents are less aware of Netflix, they found in a survey, but are more likely to have pay TV and watch more TV than average, making them prime Netflix targets. And in the U.K., Netflix usage has grown on pay-TV services where it was integrated, they say.

Pay TV companies are also broadband companies, so Netflix's success also works in the pay-TV/net providers' interest. "At two hours daily of viewing per member, cable operators ... have a growing reason to bring Netflix into the tent," Swinburne and Nowak said.

Each side in such deals would give up some revenue -- pay TV providers likely from their own pay-per-view sales and Netflix for access to pay-TV customers -- but both would gain, too, they say. "Operators would pick up leverage over programmers on content costs," they said. And, Netflix, for its part grows its subscriber base in a way that, they said, "we do not believe it would meaningfully alter the direction of Netflix profits over time."